A Whole New Life
by Broken-Mirror1
Summary: Hermione and Ron were together in seventh year, but a huge fight ripped them apart. They didn't talk to each other at all afterwards. So what if they meet again... nine years later?
1. Accidentally

**Summary: **Ron and Hermione had finally got together in the last months of seventh year. But right before graduation, they had a huge fight and didn't get back together. Or even get back to being friends. They never spoke to each other again. Hermione lost all contact with her old friends and never saw them again.

So what if Ron and Hermione meet again… nine years later?

**Disclaimer**: I just own the plot and two OC's I'll introduce you to later.

**Chapter 1**

**- Accidentally - **

He had paced London up and down three times now.

'_What are you doing here_?' He asked himself for the third time that day. '_You are visiting your parents_,' a voice in the back of his head answered_. 'You are visiting your parents.' _

'_Then why are you pacing around in MUGGLE London?'_ He asked himself once more.

He honestly had no idea. He guessed he had just grown tired of his mother's non-stop talking about him becoming a famous Quidditch player.

Yes, Ron Weasley had become a Quidditch player; he was keeper for the Chudley Cannons.

_Whatever_, he thought. He wasn't _that _famous… All right, some people every now and then pointed at him on the street, but it was not as big as his mother made it sound.

He walked into a nearby grocery store; deciding to do some grocery shopping while he put off going to his parents house. Though he did not need anything at home, he made his way through the store; picking up random things here and there. When he was waiting to pay it dawned on him that he had not brought any Muggle money with him. He cursed under his breath as he returned everything to the shelves.

Behind the high pile of food he couldn't see where he was going, and suddenly WHAM! he had crashed into someone and food was everywhere on the floor.

"I'm so sorry," he said, while collecting the woman's things.

"No, it was my fault, really, I…" she stuttered.

But Ron had looked at her and completely frozen. There was something so familiar about her. Brown curls, chocolate brown eyes and very much more grown up then the last time he'd seen her. He looked into a face he hadn't seen for nine whole years.

"Oh my God…" Hermione Granger said, covering her mouth with her hands. "No way…"

"Long time no see." Ron said, smiling slightly.

He wanted to say more but couldn't because she had thrown herself around his neck.

"Oh, it's so good to see you! I – the last time wasn't exactly…" He could tell she was flustered.

"Perfect? Fun?" he said, and she pulled away from him.

"No…" she said, "and I've regretted that… I really have, it was so stupid of me; I wish we could have stayed friends." She finished lowly.

"Yeah…" he muttered darkly. "Me too… But what's done is done," he added to lighten the mood. "How have you been?"

"Ok," She said, shrugging, "you?"

"Alright… Look, why don't we take this over a cup of coffee of something? Then we can talk properly…" he looked around, noticing people starting looking at them where they were standing in the middle of groceries on the floor.

------

"So…" Hermione said, sipping her coffee, "I see you've become pretty famous," she smiled.

"Nah… it's mostly my mum who calls it 'fame.'" he said and Hermione let out a small laugh. _'God, he hadn't realized how much he'd missed that laugh'_.

"But what are you?" He noticed right away how weird that sounded and started again, "you know… what job you got?"

"Oh, I'm a healer." Hermione said smiling.

"That's cool."

Then a little silence fell. What were they supposed to talk about?

"Oh, I forgot!" she suddenly said, causing him to jump. "How are Harry and Ginny and everyone?"

"Oh, Ginny and Harry live together in Godric's Hollow."

"Really?" Hermione said amazed.

"Yeah… They got married a few years agodx."

"No way," Hermione said breathlessly "That's really… really amazing," she giggled, "that they still are together I mean," she added lowly.

"Yeah… But there's more to that love story," he said, "You see… they have kids too."

Hermione gaped. "Kids? Does that mean more then one, then?"

"It usually does," Ron chuckled. "They have two. Sirius and Lily Potter." He said with a half-smile, "Really sweet kids… actually," he took something out of his pocket, "I have a photo of them," he handed her the picture.

"Oh my…" she said, looking at the picture. What she saw was a boy, maybe five years old, with black, untidy hair and beautiful sea green eyes, and beside him on a chair, sat a little girl in about three. She wore a pretty pink dress and her hair was flaming red and her eyes green too, but a little bluer then the boy's.

"He," she said, pointing at the boy, "is a true copy of Harry! I can't believe it."

"Yeah I know… and Lily," he said, pointing at the girl, "she is just as stubborn as Ginny, and that's not good for a three year old, I tell you. It can be a nightmare babysitting her some times."

They both laughed. "I can't really picture you babysitting," her face smiled but there were something in her voice as she said this that was different. Hermione raised her right hand to put her hair behind her ear.

"Hey!" he said pretending to be offended by this, "I'm actually good with -"

It was then he saw it, he couldn't believe he had not seen it before, it was really visible and everything. "Well," he started darkly, "I guess you're not Hermione _Granger _anymore then."

"Hm?" she looked down at her hand and understood what he was talking about. A golden ring with a two silver diamonds was tightly placed on her finger. "Oh… you know… actually I didn't change my name…"

"Ah, I see. When did it happen?"

"Er, two years ago," she said, smiling a little half-heartily.

"What's his name?" He was aware of how he nosy he had to seem, but he wanted to know. He needed to know who had married his best friend. Or… his used-to-be-best friend to be exact. That thought made him feel slightly depressed. He had lost something really valuable that day back in seventh grade.

"Brett" she answered in a low voice. "He's really great. He's a Muggle." She added.

"How long have you known him for?"

"Ehm…about seven years..."

A little awkward silence fell. Ron looked out of the window. She was married. _Married_. Everyone around him seemed to be getting married. Two months ago Charlie had married this woman from Romania, and about five months ago he had seen in the Prophet that Seamus had gotten married to some girl he worked with.

_Riing…Riiing… Riiing… _

"Oh, that's mine." Hermione said and started digging through her purse.

"You have a telephone?" Ron asked, surprised that she had such Muggle things.

"Yes, as I said, Brett's a Muggle, and it's much easier to get a hold of each other this way." She looked at the telephone's display. "Sorry, I have to take this… Hello?"

She put the telephone to her ear and Ron waited politely.

"Hi sweetie," her voice dropped to a calmer level. What sort of way of talking to her husband was that? Ron wondered.

"… What? You threw up? Poor thing… I'll be right home, okay? Ok, you do that. Bye," she hung up.

"I have to go." She told him in an apologetic tone.

"Yeah… but because your husband threw up? That's kind of … weird." He said.

She laughed a little at that. "No… not him. Nicole." She simply said, taking on her jacket.

"Nic -?"

"My daughter," she didn't meet his eye when she said this, just pretended to be very busy in zipping her jacket up.

Ron chocked on his coffee. "_What_?"

"I do actually have a life, you know," she said.

"Sorry… didn't mean to…" he mumbled, "I guess she looks just like you." He tried to smile. He didn't know why it was so hard. It was nine years since the last time he had seen her. He should have known she had a life by now.

"She actually looks more like her father," she said, a little distracted. "See you." She gave him a quick one-armed hug and started walking towards the door.

"You think I could meet her sometime?" Ron asked right before she opened the door.

Hermione seemed like she didn't wanted to answer but merely said, "Maybe." And with that she walked out of the café, leaving him alone, again.

It had been a week since he had met Hermione in the grocery store. He had apparated straight to the Burrow, where he later told his mother about his run-in with Hermione. She had been surprised at first that Hermione was married and had a child, but later decided that they should have been expecting it.

And she had also told Ron in a very low voice, "She couldn't have waited around forever."

When Ron asked her what the hell that was supposed to mean, she simply shrugged and returned to her dishes.

"What? You think I thought she would be _waiting_ for me? I've never thought that!" he told his mother.

"I never said you did." She said calmly, and made a cup wash it self with a flick of her wand.

"No, but you implied it!" Ron paused a moment; stumbling over the words, "… because I _haven't!" _

"I know you didn't think that," she said in the same annoying calm voice

"Good, because I _haven't_," Ron insisted once again.

"I know, dear."

Why did it sound like she didn't believe him? It was really annoying him. Why on earth would his own mother not believe him? Did she honestly think that he thought Hermione would sit somewhere alone, helplessly waiting for him to come sweep her off her feet? That was crazy talk! She was Hermione; Hermione would never be helpless or sit around waiting for something to come to her. She'd gone out and gotten what she wanted; a husband and a kid. But why Brett? What was so special about him? It did not matter why though; what's done is done. As long as she was happy, he supposed he could be happy too.

**A/N**: So… how was it? Bad? Good? Something in between?

And I have to give a huge thanks to TigerCruiseGinny (Alyssa) from who is my beta, she has helped me a lot spelling and grammar.


	2. A Big Surprise

**Authors Note: **I didn't get that many reviews on the last chapter but thank you to _Jennifer-Marie_ and _Wasu_ for reviewing!

**Chapter 2**

**- A big surprise - **

Since the incident with Hermione, Ron found himself wandering around Muggle London more than ever. He'd secretly hoped he would bump into her again, but luck did not prove to be on his side. He had not seen her in the two weeks since he'd first run into her. He seriously doubted he'd ever see her again.

He wandered around the bustling streets of London, doing what Ginny liked to call "window-shopping." He didn't really understand the point in it, though. All you did was _look_ into the windows and _pretend_ to buy things.

He miserably walked by the store they'd run into each other, '_If I hadn't walked in there I would never have met her again_,' he thought.

His inexplicable urge to go food shopping, as crazy as it may sound, was what caused his meeting with Hermione. He if had not been foolish enough to go shopping without checking that he had money first, he would not have had to get out of line, and he would not have bumped into her. If he had not bumped into her, he would not be pacing Muggle London aimlessly at this very moment.

He decided to walk down a street he'd never been down before. Curiously he looked at all the shops. There, at the end of the road he saw an interesting looking candy shop.

'_Maybe I could buy something for Sirius and Lily,' _he thought as he opened the door, causing a little bell to tinkle merrily.

He walked over to a shelf filled with chocolate. The first thing he noticed was that Muggles did not have the same candy as wizards. The candy in the Muggle world looked rather boring.

While he stood there a little boy pushed him to the side to get to the milk chocolate.

"Timmy, no pushing I said!" a woman, probably his mother, said to the boy who just glared at her in response and started grabbing different kinds of chocolate.

'_Greedy kid,' _Ron thought. But then, he realized, he wasn't any better himself at his age, and stopped his thoughts.

"Mommy can I have this?" Now it was a girl shouting, from behind a shelf.

"Sweetie put that back, you've had enough."

It was something with the way that woman had called her 'sweetie' that got Ron's brain running faster. He slowly walked around the self, not daring to hope for anything.

There he saw a woman with long curly brown hair standing with her back to him. But he didn't see her kid. He figured she'd probably gone behind some other shelf.

"Hermione?"

She turned around quickly. "Hi!" she said and her face lightened. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing really." He said, shrugging, "Just walking by."

She nodded, looking a little nervous all of a sudden.

"Do you live in the area?" Ron asked her.

"Yeah, not far from here.… Nicole just wanted some candy and I thought it was to long to Diagon alley do get her some wizard candy, so this'll do. What are you doing in Muggle London all the time anyway?" she said, looking curious.

"Tired of Diagon Alley I guess… and nothing else to do, so here I am…" he paused. "So, you know if your daughter is gonna be a witch yet?"

"I sure think so." she said, half-laughing. "She has already turned her blue bird red and that's not normal for a kid who's not a wizard or witch to do. And I'm a witch, so why shouldn't she become one too?"

Ron laughed, "Good. It would be quite boring for her if she didn't become a witch when her mother -"

"Mommyyyyyyyy!"

"Nicole, _no yelling inside!_" Hermione said when a little girl emerged from the self on the other side.

"But mom, can I _please_ have some more chewing gum?" she stuck out her lip and looked at Hermione, who didn't seem to fall for it.

Ron noticed she was already chewing a big pink one and grinned.

"No more gum." Hermione said firmly and turned back to Ron, biting her lip.

'_What is she so nervous about?' _He thought.

Nicole walked over to Hermione. "You're so mean!" she said in an offended tone. She turned her back to her mother and looked at Ron. She was a bit older than Ron had imagined her to be.

Nicole stared up on him with narrowed eyes, like kids did when they decided if they are going to like the person or not.

"Nicole, Ron. Ron, Nicole." Hermione said, her voice shivering slightly.

"But mom," Nicole said, "that is-"

"Not now." Hermione hissed. Nicole fell silent.

Then something hit Ron, something really strange. He already hoped he was wrong. "Hermione…?" he said slowly.

"What?" she said nervously.

"Your husband… Brett or what's-his-name… how does he look like?"

"Erm… what d'you mean?" Hermione asked, knitting her forehead.

"I mean how does he look like? His height, eye colour, hair colour and that kind of stuff."

"Er… he's pretty tall… just as tall as you maybe; he has light blue eyes and brown hair. What is this about?"

He sighed, and glanced at Nicole. "Hermione…" he started again, not knowing how to say this, "Hermione, how come your daughter has red hair?" Hermione drew a quick intake of breath to this but didn't say anything. "I thought someone in the family had to have it if their kids would get it…" he continued.

She started to look around the room nervously like she was afraid someone was listening in.

Ron looked at Nicole again. Yeah, it was her real colour, he could see that. She had red hair that reached to the middle of her back. It hair was curly, but not as bushy like Hermione's had been at her age.

Her eyes were in a deep shade of light blue and she wore a pink jacked with fur on the hood and light jeans. She was completely adorable.

"Ron …"Hermione started but Ron cut her of.

"How old is she?"

Hermione took such a long time to answer that he simply kneeled down to Nicole's level and asked her instead, "How old are you?"

"I'll be nine soon." She said proudly, chewing her gum even harder.

Ron slowly stood up, his feet trembling slightly. He could feel a headache coming. This couldn't be happening.

"Then you would have been like…" he stopped a few seconds to think, "…about eighteen or nineteen when you got her," it was hard to keep his voice from shaking.

Hermione continued biting her bottom lip and said, without looking at Ron, "Not here, could we take this somewhere el-"

"Is she mine?" Ron asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking, but it was hard. He didn't even know if he wanted to know the answer.

"Ron, please, not here…"

"I_s she?_"

"I – You …" she stuttered, but seemed to give in, "Yes," she whispered.

**Authors Note**: So.. what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Something in between? Please tell me in a review :) I have written 10 chaps for this story, so please tell me if you want the rest.


	3. You Can't Change the Past

**A/N:** God, I'm so sorry how ridiculously long time I used in getting this up! I guess I'm just lazy since I have over 10 chapters written. And I want you to know that this chapter hasn't been beta read, and English is not my first language, so tell me if there's any mistakes that makes your eye twitch :P I hope you enjoy it, and please forgive me for using such a long time, I hope I still have any readers.

**Disclaimer:** Of course I don't own HP or any of the characters. Only Nicole is mine.

**Chapter 3  
- You Can't Change the Past - **

Ron grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the shop. "Nicole, stay inside," Hermione said to her daughter right before the door closed. The other customers in the shop stared after them.

Just outside the door Ron grabbed her other arm and held her tight. "Why?" he asked through clenched teeth, "Why haven't you told me?" He didn't manage to hide the hurt in his voice, or the anger for that sake. He could clearly see this was hard for her, but honestly; he didn't care. She had hid his own child from him.

"Ron – "

"Don't _Ron _me! Tell me why you haven't said anything!"

He saw tears well up in her eyes, just like it always did when she were upset or scared. She wasn't _that _changed, he thought. "I – I don't know what to say," She mumbled to the ground, "I was so scared, you have no idea, and young and stupid-"

"Hah, since when did you become _stupid _exactly?" he eased the grip around her arms a bit but still held her to keeping her from running away. "I'm sorry Hermione, but you have to come up with something better."

"Not stupid in the way you think about," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "what would have happened if I told you anyway? You were so angry at me already, and if I'd just dropped the bomb just like that, you'd -"

"You thought I'd be angry?" he felt his voice being totally different now, half-surprised and half-hurt. Had she been afraid of him?Oh my God, what had he done to her? _She was afraid of me. _The sentence went on a loop in his head, like some kind of never-ending echo.

"Yeah, I did. And you would have been! I just couldn't deal with that too, I was already too messed up."

"It really hurts me that you thought that about me, Hermione. I would never have been angry. I would have been there for you, no matter how angry I was before." He said to her, easing the grip on her arms even more. He sighed, "Ok, so you didn't tell me just _then_, I get it. But why, _why _haven't you told me later? Somehow! You could just have _told _me about it! Even sent a bloody _owl _if you couldn't handle it in person. Everything would have been better!'

"I _know_ and I'm _sorry_," she said in a hoarse whisper, "I just – I just thought that I could just forget about you… and everyone else. Just leave everything behind and never look back. I had to move on, Ron. I thought that if she wanted to look for her dad when she got older, she could do it when she became of-age; I _know_ it was selfish, and I _know_ it was bad, I really do, but I just didn't know what else to do." Tears were leaking her eyes now; she did nothing to stop them. "And anyway, how were we gonna take care of a child Ron? We didn't do anything else but fight… it's not good for a child to have parents who fights all the time." She paused. "But I was wrong. I realized that too late. And when I realized it, I didn't dare to contact you… I'm so sorry."

Ron was shocked beyond words, but he let her finish talking without interrupting in any way. "I can't believe you though we couldn't take care of her. And I can't believe you just took of like that," he finally said, and he let go of her completely, she wouldn't run.

"Me neither," she whispered and seemed truly devastated. "But it wasn't just that," she sniffed, trying to control herself. "I wanted to spare you; I wanted to let you have a chance to have a _life_! How can you go out there and get a life if you get a child at eighteen?" she sniffed and wiped her face. "I wanted you to have a carrier, get m-married and… just _live_."

"What about _your _life?" he asked, looking down into her face. When she didn't answer, he continued, "If you had told me we could've _had_ a life; _together_." Ron forced her eyes to meet his.

"I understand that you're angry with me, you can yell at me if you want, I understand, I deserve all of it," she stood there, as if she was waiting for a hurricane.

Ron couldn't bring himself to scream at her. Even if he wanted to, oh yes, he wanted to. He wanted to yell his lungs out to her; wanted to shake her until she understood how this felt to him. But somehow he couldn't. No matter how loud he screamed, no matter how hard he shook her, she couldn't change the past. What was done was done. He watched her stand there and he felt sorry for her, of all things. It was him, who should be pitied in this situation, but she had been really scared and alone and she had felt betrayed, betrayed by _him_. _Oh, that stupid, stupid fight!_ He thought and mentally kicked himself for being so thick in school. If he only had apologized, if he only had sent that bloody letter…

"I'm not gonna yell at you," he said calmly, "even though I want to, I swear I want to," he added with a half-smile.

She smiled too, a little weak and shaky, then said gratefully;

"Thank you."

Ron nodded and forced his aching brain over to something else, "In there," he said, gesturing towards she shop, "Nicole was about to say something about me, as if she knew me," he said, looking puzzled.

"Oh," Hermione said and looked a little more cheerful at the change of subject, "yes, she know you, but in a different kind of way. You see, one day when we were driving home she sat in the back of the car with this kind of magazine she reads – "

_FLASHBACK _

"_Mum, can you slow down?"__ the little girl's voice asked from the backseat of the car. _

"_Why, if I might ask?"__ Hermione asked. _

"Because_," Nicole said as if it was the most obvious in the world, "I can't read when the car is bumping like this."_

"_And what are you reading that is so interesting that I have to slow down the car?" Hermione asked curious and looked in the mirror so she could see her daughter. For some reason Hermione hoped she would be reading _Hogwarts: A history_ but already knew she wasn't. _

"_My _Quidditch magazine,_ mum! I'm reading an article about my favourite team and I really can't read probably when the car is bumping."_

_Of course, Hermione thought. _Quidditch._ She should have known it. Nicole was crazy about that stupid game. It's probably in the genes; she thought miserably and eased the gear a little. "Thank you mum," she said and Hermione heard her folding the magazine. _

"_Oh I _really_ like this player!" Nicole said after five minutes of reading silently to herself, "he's reeeeally good, he's the best on the team," She nodded her head enthusiastically. Hermione knew her daughter well enough to understand that she wanted her to ask who it was, and so she did._

"_Who is __it then?" but she was sure that what whatever the guy's name would be, she would have no _idea _of who he was, probably never even heard of him._

_Nicole seemed happy for that her mother had asked __her and chewed her gum harder, "Ronald Weasley."_

_Hermione clenched her foot so hard on the breaks that the car screamed and stopped, and they were thrown forwards in their seats. It would probably leave black marks on the road. _

"_If you want to kill me mum," Nicole said and leaned back in the seat, brushing her long, red hair away from her face, "its easier ways of doing it."_

"_Let me__ see that," Hermione said, reaching back for the magazine. _

"_Why?"__ Nicole said in a suspicious tone and narrowed her eyes. _

"_Just – let me see it okay?"_

_Nicole gave her mother the magazine. Sulking, she leaned back in her seat, blowing a few bubbles with her gum. _

_Hermione ignored her and looked at the page in the magazine. It was a big picture of a whole Quidditch team. Slowly she drew her fingers over the picture, looking for a familiar face. _

_There. Her finger stopped at the guy all to the right. She knew it the moment she saw him, everything from the red hair to the freckles, it was no doubt; it was him. _

"_Oh my," she murmured and continued staring at the picture, she noticed how her voice shook and how hot her eyes__ had suddenly become. _

"_Mum, what is it? I thought you didn't even _like_ Quidditch!"_

"_Sweetie, be quiet for a while," Hermione said, not really listening to her. _

_It was a little biography for each player on the next page. Hermione flipped it over. _Full name: Ronald Bilius Weasley_, yeah, yeah, yeah, she knew all that. She read a bit further._

"_He's not married…" she said, more to herself then to Nicole. _

"_Who's not?" Nicole said who had started humming._

"_Hm?" _

"_You're not listening to me," it was more like a statement than a question._

"_Sorry…"__ Hermione continued reading. _

"_That's my favourite player," said Nicole suddenly, having leant over the seat to see who her Hermione was reading about. _

_Hermione swallowed, "he is?"_

"_Yeah. He's the keeper, he saves everything," _

_Hermione smiled and closed her eyes. "He made it good," she murmured._

"_What?" Nicole looked at her._

"_Nothing sweetie… just thinking out loud…"_

"_Right," she rolled her eyes before returning her attention back to the page in the magazine. "His friends don't call him Ronald, you know," she said as if she knew everything there was to know about him, "They call him-"_

"_Ron,' Hermione said quietly, 'his friends call him Ron."_

END OF FLASHBACK

Ron had listened to the story with great interest. He was her favourite player. He almost could not believe it. _He _was her favourite player, of all people.

"She has been on one of your games too," Hermione said, interrupting his thoughts "with a friend I work with, she took Nicole with her… I didn't want to go… She was completely in heaven when she got home…- ran around the house and singing your team song. I really don't know why she likes Quidditch that much; I haven't done anything to help that obsession for sure."

Ron was now grinning. Even thought he still was furious with her, he was grinning. He supposed Nicole likes Quidditch because he did so. Weird how that gene thing worked when they had never even met. But then he came to think of something. How was he supposed to tell this to his parents, Harry and Ginny? He hadn't even asked Hermione if he _could _tell them. But hell, it was his kid too.

He thought it was best to ask, just because it was polite. He was going to tell them anyway.

"Er, Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"I was just thinking of – er, mum and dad you know, I wanted to know if I could tell them?"

Hermione bit her bottom lip, "I – I guess," she said after a few seconds, "if you have too," she added and he could see that _she_ didn't want him to tell them.

"I'll do it then. But maybe not tonight… I may need some time to prepare."

"Good id-"

"_MUM! _What are you doing out here?" Nicole had poked her head out of the door and seen Hermione talking to Ron. She stubbornly marched towards Ron and bowed her neck backwards to look up at him.

"I know who you a-are," she said in a sing-song voice and wearing a proud grin.

"Er, yeah. You're mother said so." He said, smiling down at her.

Nicole looked at Hermione in shock, "you talked about _me _to _him_?"

Hermione chuckled, "yeah."

Nicole looked stunned a few more seconds before she dragged in Hermione's jacket so she went in some kind of bow; Nicole put her hands around her mouth and whispered something in her ear. Hermione's smile grew wider and wider.

* * *

**A/N:** I will try to get the next chapter up during the next few days. Please review, they're the only reason I bother to even post this :)


	4. Phone Calls

**A/N: **Here you go! Hope you like it, and please leave a review. :)

**Chapter 4****  
- Phone calls - **

Nicole let Hermione go and suddenly she looked nervous, she bit her lip and avoided Ron's eyes. Hermione looked like she couldn't stop smiling, "Nicole here – "she patted her head, "wondered you could do her the _honour _and give her your autograph."

Nicole blushed a deeper shade of red than her hair and looked down and her shoes. Ron couldn't fight the smile when he saw her ears reddening. _Classic_. Hermione must have noticed that he had seen this and said, almost shyly "Can't escape that one, huh?"

Ron chuckled and kneeled down in front of Nicole. "I would love to," he said and she blushed even more, and chewed nervously at her gum. "But I would need something to write on," he continued. She looked up and started rooming through her pockets and finally she pulled out a gum-paper and handed it over to him. "It's all I have" she said, "that ok?"

"It's perfect."

Ron glanced at Hermione who seemed to use all the self-control she had not to laugh, he then looked back at Nicole who looked straight at him and he suddenly found himself looking at a younger version of his little sister Ginny. Wow, he thought. How could she look that much like _her_? She had Ginny's mouth and facial form, and she had the same length on her hair that Ginny had in her age. But her eyes, they weren't brown as Ginny's or Hermione's for that matter. No, her eyes were frosty blue. _His eyes. _He still couldn't see anything of Hermione in her, except from her curls and height (she had Hermione's small body).

_But I guess she has her brain,_ he though, smiling. He somehow hoped and somehow dreaded that she had gotten Hermione's brain. Yeah, of course it was better that she was smart in school than stupid like he was, but then again, sometimes things could go a little over the top… He could still remember to this day how incredibly annoying Hermione had been at times. She did get a little better the older she became though, but she still had always remained a know-it-all.

Still grinning from ear to ear he shifted his eyes to Hermione, "you don't happen to have a pen on you, do you?"

He was home again, in the Burrow. He told his mother he would be staying for another month. He said it was because of Quidditch practice. But she didn't seem to believe him.

"Seen anymore to Hermione?" his Dad said from behind the Daily Prophet.

"Oh, it was just that I was going to tell you," he started, "mom, dad, erm – Hermione she-"but how should he say it? _Mom, dad… Hermione and I have a kid. I didn't knew about her until today 'cause she's been hiding her from me_ _but I forgave her. _No, it would definitely not work. It would be a big shock, maybe too big.

"Yes? What about Hermione?" Molly urged him. She was sitting in the sofa, knitting a scarf to Lily, looking at him suspiciously.

He shifted awkwardly on his feet. "Er… No, just forget about it," he said hastily and walked upstairs to think. _I have to tell them… somehow. _

He started pacing around his room, back and forth. He was sure it would be traces in the floor afterwards. Then he stopped, he had seen something lying on the floor. He seized it. It was a little note or rather… a _gum_ paper. All it said was: _Call me._ And then there was this number...

Ah, it must be a telephone number, (Harry had finally managed to knock into him a few years ago that it was _not_ called a _fellytone_) he thought. Hermione must have slipped the note into his pocket earlier. He hesitated a moment. Maybe he should call her and tell her he hadn't told anyone about Nicole yet. He felt that if he was going to tell them, Hermione should be there. Maybe even Nicole too.

But where to get the phone?

"Dad… you don't happen to have a- er… telephone do you?" Ron had been thinking that if someone around would have a phone lying around; it would be his father.

"Actually – "his father answered slowly "I think I do," he observed his son over his glasses curiously, "what are you going to do with it? I just have one, and you are not going to break it."

"I'm not gonna _break _it. I'm gonna _call._ Where is it?"

"It's in my room. I've bewitched it so that you don't need the el – eltricity?" he didn't seem certain on how to pronounce the word and waved it away, but Ron could hear him mutter silently to himself as he went up to his parents room; "elticity? No, that's not it. Eltricity? No, not that either…El-"

Ron typed the numbers quickly and waited for Hermione to answer in the other end. One beep… two beeps… Three beeps… how long was it supposed to take?

Just when he was about to put the phone down, someone picked up on the other end, _'Hello, you've just reached Brett and Hermione-'_

"Hello, can I speak to Hermione, please?" he said, but the man's voice didn't seem to have heard him, he just continued talking.

'_We're not home at the moment…_ or_ we simply have other things to do and doesn't bother to talk to you –'_a women now laughed in the background _'Brett you can't say that!'_ she said and Ron wondered what the hell they were doing. He could hear it was Hermione.

"Hello? Can – I – speak – to – Hermione?" Ron asked again, slowly and loudly. Maybe Brett had a bad hearing?

'_Anyway,'_ it was Hermione's voice in the other end now, _'leave a message after the beep and we will call you as soon as we get home. ('Or if we feel a strange need of talking to you', Brett's voice said in the back) Goodbye!' _

Ron heard them laugh and then a beep. What just happened? It was like they didn't hear him. And they said they maybe weren't home…? Ron stared puzzled down at the phone. Maybe it was broken. "Erm… Hello?" he spoke into it again… no, they were not there anymore. "Bloody useless Muggle crap," he muttered and laid the phone down and walked down the stairs again, sulking.

Two days later the telephone had called; something it had never done before. Molly had panicked when the sound of the ringing phone rang through the house, she thought it was some kind of warning that the house would explode and started throwing random things they'd might need later out of the windows. But after a few seconds Ron had found out that it was just the telephone and run up to take it.

It had been Hermione. She said he had left a message. When he didn't understand what she talked about she had to explain the whole deal with the answering machine and that the thing he heard they had said a long while ago. It didn't make much sense to Ron, but he hadn't asked more about it.

She told him she had put her number in his pocked the day they met in the sweet shop and that she was glad he called. She also seemed happy that he hadn't told anyone about Nicole yet. He had told her that they had to tell them sometime and that he wanted her to be there. She had refused at first, and started rambling about Molly and Arthur hating her for it. But after five minutes of talking it through she agreed to come and celebrate Christmas at the Burrow, but only if Arthur and Molly said she could. Harry, Ginny and the kids would be there too.

"I'm sure Nicole would love some magic kids to play with, even though they are much younger." Ron had said to calm her down. It seemed to help.

After an hour of talking, Hermione had to go. Ron still found it weird talking to someone he couldn't see, but he had to admit that the whole telephone thing started to make much more sense. It was easier then Floo powder and you didn't feel any discomfort and when in the telephone, the one in the other end can't see when you blush or smile like crazy.


	5. Orange Autumn

**A/N: **It's short, but it's mostly a filler chapter. Hope you like it anyway, and leave review. Even if it's just to say "it's okay."

**  
Chapter 5  
- Orange Autumn -**

Ron had been meeting Hermione with Nicole three times during the next two weeks. This time the meetings were planned. They had met in the park and walked around and played with Nicole. Poor girl, she had no idea that the funny hero of hers was her father.

The summer was now slowly turning into autumn, leafs were turning orange and red and the weather grew colder and more windy.

It was Wednesday and Ron was once again in the park with Hermione and Nicole. Nicole had become more used to him and was soon babbling to him about everything and dragged him with her to show him things.

"Can't you move a little faster?" she asked as she dragged him with her by the arm.

"Faster, huh?" he asked her playfully and without warning he had lifted her up started spin her around. Her scream soon turned into laughter. God, it was just like hearing Hermione laugh. "Faster, faster!" she yelled.

When he thought the girl had got enough head-spinning for one day he put her down. "Fast enough?" he asked her, smiling.

"Well," she seemed to be considering the matter seriously, "It was ok." She nodded enthusiastically.

At the end of the day Ron was walking Hermione and Nicole over to the corner where they always parted, Ron guessed they lived up in that street. He refused to believe that they had lived there the entire time tough, because then he would probably have seen her around before. But he didn't ask, he wasn't sure she would answer.

Ron and Hermione walked casually on the street with Nicole hanging behind them, kicking rocks as she went.

"Did you know each other in school?" Nicole suddenly asked them.

"Yes, I told you that remember?" Hermione reminded her, Ron thought he saw something change in her face but he must have been imagining it because when he looked at her again, she looked normal.

"Yeah, but were you guys… you know-" Ron could practically _hear_ her smile, "were you together?" the question was so sudden and so casually asked that Hermione didn't seem to really take it in at first but then she stopped and now Ron was sure he saw something flicker behind her eyes, sadness and, could it be, regret?

"What makes you ask that?" Hermione said, and soon continued walking, not looking back at Nicole. Ron felt Nicole's eyes in the back of his head.

"Were you or were you not?"

Hermione sighed, and stopped. She turned around to meet her daughter. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to answer. Ron knew Hermione still thought of their whole break up thing as her fault, thinking about it; it was in fact she who broke it off, but he had definitely led her to it. To spare her the pain in talking about it he kneeled down to Nicole's level.

"Yeah, a long time ago we were," he said. Hermione smiled gratefully in the background.

"Why aren't you anymore?" Merlin, this girl was forward, he thought, though a little amused.

"Well…" he said, turning his head to look at Hermione. She wore a sad expression but quickly hid it when she saw him looking. Ron turned back to Nicole and was once again strongly reminded of Ginny, he shook it of and said; "it just didn't work out. For certain people it just don't." he paused. "But you're mum found a new bloke, didn't she? And that is working fine, isn't it?"

Nicole nodded silently. "Brett's nice," she said.

Ron chuckled, "I bet he is."

"But he got scared when I accidentally put his hair on fire," she said, sounding angry. "He doesn't like it when I do magic. He says that '_till I can control them I must try not to do it_…" she made a face and looked down at her shoes.

"I think he's right." Ron said, "You should try not to use it much. I bet you read much about it, though."

At this Hermione chuckled and Nicole looked at him in disgust, "I don't _read_." She simply said. "Reading's for geeks." she seemed to be thinking, "like Mum," she added smirking.

"Nicole only reads about – well, about Quidditch." Hermione said from behind them. Ron looked at Hermione, raised his eyebrows and mouthed, "Is there _anything _of you in there?" She just smiled and shrugged.

"Well, sometimes reading could be a nice thing," he said, turning back to Nicole "it makes you smart. But you have to be careful with it though; it could turn you in to a know-it-all." He smirked and winked at her. Hermione glared at him from behind.

"Whatever you say." Nicole simply answered. "Well, are we going or not?" she started walking along the street again.

Hermione glanced at Ron. "Well, we better get home." She said, "I'll – I'll see you later, ok?"

"Yeah," he looked at Nicole, she was spinning around beneath a tree; leaves were flying around her.

"I guess the next time I'll see you are for Christmas?" Ron asked Hermione. "You're coming, yeah?"

"Of course we are," she answered, looking nervous.

"Hey," he laid a hand on her shoulder, "it'll go fine. No one will be mad at you."

She snorted, apparently not believing him for a second. Then she smiled weakly, "I'm really sorry you haven't met her sooner. You _do_ believeme when I say I'm sorry, right?" she looked truly concerned.

"Yeah, I do. I haven't said I have forgiven you yet. It might take some time…"

"I understand." She whispered, "I don't blame you…" They both looked down at their shoes as an awkward silence fell.

"Well, goodbye then." Hermione said after a few seconds. She put on a pair of white gloves then started moving towards Nicole to get her out of the bed of leafs she had decided to lay down in.

"Bye…"


	6. A Photograph Full of Memories

**A/N**: Wow, 3 chaps in one day. You must be happy Haha. Anyway, I hope you will like this. You way get some answers you've been wanting. And please, review, it's what keeps me going.

**Chapter 6****  
- A Photograph Full of Memories –**

"How was your day, honey?"

Hermione dumped heavily down onto the couch. Her head was aching and she pressed two of her fingers to her temples. Her day had been nothing but stress. She had planned just to do paperwork today, but then some nutter had managed to transform his own head into a light ball, and through the whole day Hermione and one of her Healer colleagues, been trying to find a way to get his head back to normal. They had ended up with getting the light in the ball turned off and on the top of it, it was now hair. The result looked ridiculous, but he would be all right eventually.

Hermione just groaned as an answer to her husbands' question and pressed her palms to her eyes, causing white and red dots to pop out from under her eyelids.

"Hard day, huh?"

He went to stand behind her and gently rubbed her shoulders. "You're tense," he said and kneaded harder.

"Of course I am!" she snapped, sounding a little more annoyed then what she had intended. "You're not the one who has to deal with people who barks instead of talks, or walks around with a _light ball _as a head or – "

"You wanna come with me to pick up Nicole later?" Brett said, cutting her of. He was too used to her sudden tantrums to be stupid enough to snap back, if he did he was likely to spend the night on the couch.

"What?" Hermione asked, she wasn't quite following, she was too much into her complains to hear him. "I'm sorry Brett, what? Pick up whom from where?"

Brett laughed and kissed the top of her head, "Yeah, _Nicole_. You know; your daughter? Pick her up from school as I do every day? You wanna come?"

"Right." Hermione bit her lip at her own stupidity. "No, I think I'm just gonna… stay home and relax. That okay?" she tipped her head backwards and looked at him.

Brett gave her an upside down kiss, "Of course, honey. I'll leave you to it." He turned to go out of the room but Hermione called him back. "Brett? There's something I um, I wanted to ask you…"

Brett turned around to face her again, "ask away then."

"Ok, erm, don't freak out or anything-"

He chuckled. "Honey, you know I'm not the _freaking out _type." He grinned.

Hermione smiled gratefully. "Ok, so…the question is… I'm-taking-Nicole-so-celebrate-christmas-with-Ron-and-his-familiy-you-wanna-come?" She said the whole thing in one breath. She bit the side of her lip and watched him closely for the reaction.

"Aha." He said quietly and looked at her for a few seconds then his eyes travelled around the room once or twice before looking at her again. "So… you want to celebrate Christmas with your ex… and father to your child-"

"I said you could come," she said quickly.

"Right…" he seemed to be struggling with himself, "well, you sure about this, then?"

This wasn't the reaction she had prepared herself to, he actually approved? No questions or suspicions looks?

"Er," she said, "what do you mean when you say _sure_?"

"I mean, I can't stop you from doing what you want to do; but you just met him again… you know, after what you told me he hurt you pretty badly -"

"Hey, we were young; it's a long time ago, ok? And yes, I'm sure."

"Well, ok then. If that's what you want…' he seemed a little hesitant but knew that if Hermione had already set her mind up on going she would go, with or without him.

Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "yeah, that's what I want."

Brett nodded and walked over to give her one more light kiss, "I'm gonna go pick up Nicole, you try get some rest before she gets here, you won't be able to once she's here."

Hermione; who really started to feel how heavy her eyelids were, smiled and nodded.

After Brett had left to pick up Nicole, Hermione walked with heavy feet up the stairs to her and Brett's bedroom on the second floor.

She opened her dresser to find some more comfortable clothes to sleep in; it weren't possible in what she wore now.

She grabbed a baggy t-shirt from the very back of the closet. She hadn't been wearing that one since the school days. As she took it out, something that looked like a little piece of paper flew out and gracefully landed on the floor.

She looked at it helplessly for a few seconds; she couldn't bring herself to bow down to pick it up. It was probably just some old shopping list. So instead she got changed.

Right before she was going to lie down at the bed she noticed the paper on the floor again. She groaned; irritated over how annoyed she got for seeing it just lying there.

With another irritated groan she bowed down and picked it up. She could feel right away that it wasn't just some old parchment or paper, it was a photograph. Hermione had an inkling on which photo it was, since it came from the back of the closet. With a sigh she remembered herself curl it forcefully before throwing it violently the furthest she could muster into the pile of clothes on the floor. In must have followed into the closet when her old clothes were being stored there. With a lump forming in her throat she turned it over.

What she saw, was and eighteen year old self and a seventeen year old Ron, standing forehead to forehead and smiling to each other; it were snowing lightly around them. After a few seconds photo-Hermione turned around to face the photographer, and said with an angry and shocked expression, "Harry!" though, there was no sound in the photograph. Photo-Ron gave the photographer a nasty hand-gesture and photo-Hermione slapped his hand, but smiling all the while.

Hermione remembered when that picture was taken. It was a week after she and Ron had gotten together. It was in February and it was the first Hogsmeade weekend in the New Year. They had been alone until Harry had showed up with Collins camera. After taking the picture Harry had shrugged and said, "What?! You were just too cute, I couldn't help myself."

And now, when she looked at it years after, Hermione had to agree with him. It was an adorable picture and the many memories came floating back to her.

But she couldn't think about the happy memories long before reaching the end. Because after just a few months of a happy relationship, things were bound to go wrong between them.

"_Oh, my God! Can you believe this is the final week in here?" Hermione looked at Ron who was slumbering in the sofa. "Hello? Are you even listening to me?" She clapped her hands in front of his face. _

"_Wha'? Yes, of course I do, 'Mione."_

"_I've told you before and I do it again;" Hermione sighed, __**"don't**_ _call me 'Mione!" _

"_I don't understand why you don't like it. I think it's cute…" he mumbled tiredly, "and you get to call me Ron!" he added as an afterthought. _

"_It's not cute… It's just because you're too lazy to pronounce my whole name, but it's ok, I can call you Ronald if you want." She smirked, knowing he hated that name. _

"_Ok, you win." He growled, still half asleep. _

_Hermione smiled proudly of winning another argument. "But I mean… this is the __**last week**_ _in this school! We'll never be here again, unless we become teachers and I highly doubt that's going to be either you or Harry, and won't you miss being here?"_

"_Not really," He murmured, too tired to really hear her question._

"_But, we've had so many happy times here – "_

"_-yeah, I remember both Aragog and Fluffy being highly amusing."_

"_-and this was the place we __**met**_-"

"_-actually we met on the train-"_

"_-and all our friends are here."_

'_We'll still see each other after school, relax Hermione.'_

"_What's wrong with you? It's like you don't care that we've spent seven years of our lives here, and now it's suddenly over."_

"_Hermione, of course I care, but we have just been through hundreds of N.E.W.T's, and I'm barely able to keep my eyes open, can't you just shut up for __**one**__ second and stop babbling …"_

"_Blabbing do I?" Hermione felt her temper rise dangerously. _

"_Yeah, I'm sick of it. If you aren't nagging on me for something your babbling non-stop, if you aren't yelling then. Shut up for like a minute will you?"_

_He seemed to instantly regret his words for his eyes fluttered open and he stuttered, "Hermione, I - I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that, I mean… I just meant you're talking maybe a little too much…" his words trailed off to silent mutter. _

"_That's what you really think of me is it? It's what you've always thought of me. Little bossy Ms. Hermione Granger who thinks she know it all? Oh, yes, I've heard that one before, thank you very much" Her eyes were now shining with tears. _

"_Hey, now! I don't think that about you! I'm tired, I don't know what I'm saying… can't we take this tomorrow?"_

"_No! We're taking this now! Cause I think that you mean exactly what you said! Cause when you're tired you say what you really mean without thinking about it. You really are sick of me aren't you?" Her voice quivered and failed her; her eyes started getting foggy with tears. _

"_What, no! I mean yeah, you can be bossy but – "_

_Hermione shot on her feet, "then why are you with me?!" she shrieked, "why do you even bother if I'm annoying you that much?!"_

"_Hermione, please – "_

"_No! You listen to me!" She knew that was wrong to say since she had just asked a question but she didn't care, "I guess you're with me because you feel like you have too. Feeling _sorry for me _or something! You think no one wants to be with me, but just so you know; I've actually had two boys asking me out this year, but I turned them down!_ _Because I was with _you_,"_ _her voice quivered dangerously and she glared at him. _

"_Hermione, this is insane! I don't feel sorry for you; I'm not with you because I feel like I "_have too_."I'm with you because I _want too_! Where do you get stuff like that?"_

"_I know how you really feel about me." Hermione whispered, "I know you think I'm bossy, nagging and ugly. I've heard all of that before, from_ you _even!" _

"_Hey! I've never called you ugly!" Ron honestly didn't know what was going on with Hermione. What had he said to get her this pissed of? _

"_But you think it! I thought you had changed! That you had changed from that eleven year old boy who didn't like me and thought of me like the know-it-all, but you're still him aren't you? You'll never grow up!" she angrily wiped away some tears before she continued; "I think it's time we end this." She whispered, "it's gone too far, it won't last." _

"_Hermione, come on! You don't mean that!" He was shocked, she had officially lost it._

"_Oh, yes, I mean it!"_

"_OK, if that's how it's gonna be, fine!" If she got to insult him, he wasn't going to let her get away with it. "Yeah, I think you're bossy! And you talk way too much! And you pick a fight for almost everything, you tend to overreact and you're constantly – "_

"_I hate you." It was a whisper, he almost didn't hear it but he did. She shook with anger and her hair looked like it was full of electricity._

"_What's that?" He said, egging her on, "I didn't catch what you said. A little louder?"_

"_I. hate. you." She said, a little louder this time._

_Hurt flashed before his eyes for only a second, before he replied. "Oh, well, then I guess" he narrowed his eyes on her. "I hate you too." _

_Hermione's lip quivered worse as she scowled down at him from her standing position. She swallowed hard before she said through clenched teeth, "fine! You better remember this day Ronald Weasley; because this is the last day you'll ever speak to me!" _

_Then she stormed away, out through the portrait hole. _

Hermione sighed and laid the photo on the nightstand. It had indeed been the last time they spoke before they met in the Muggle store a few weeks ago. Hermione had been miserable the last week at Hogwarts, wanting to apologize so badly but her pride held her prisoner. She had only looked at him in secret, seen his pain too, but both too stubborn to do anything about it. And when they finally left school, it was too late. Hermione had been angry for years, but she had all the time decided to overlook that it was her who overreacted to the whole thing. She had tried to forget it had been all her fault.

Harry had desperately tried to bridge between them, but no luck. Harry _himself_ had tried to

ignore both of them to get them to understand he couldn't be friends with any of them

if they couldn't, but he had to give up that as well.

Before she fell asleep she looked at the photo again. She remembered wanting to tear it to pieces and throw it in the fire. But somehow she hadn't been able to.


End file.
